


Vignettes and Memories

by b0kunoanime (lonely_lovebird)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Vignette, Young Riza Hawkeye, Young Roy Mustang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 13:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10491510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonely_lovebird/pseuds/b0kunoanime
Summary: Riza's whole life was hinged on one question - "Can I trust you?".“Your father told me, ‘Soldiers are left to die like trash on the side of the road’. That may be but I know it's the only way to make a difference and I'll never be happy if I don't try to make this country a better place.”The words shot through Riza like lightning - a beacon of hope. She was reminded of their conversation on the first day they were truly friends. “I can only change Amestris, but starting here will one day help me reach my goal of changing the entire world.”A series of Vignettes of Roy and Riza's budding relationship as Roy trained under Berthold Hawkeye. Setting: Pre-Canon.





	

“Do you ever find yourself strangely drawn to mysterious handsome men with dashing personalities?”

The girl in question, a young Elizabeth Hawkeye, rolled her eyes at the salacious remark from her luncheon companion. Roy Mustang, a penniless alchemical apprentice from Central, had been living with the Hawkeye’s for almost a year, studying with Berthold Hawkeye in the basics of alchemy. Riza had to admit he was certainly handsome, but he was hardly mysterious.

She told him so, pleased at the way his jaw hit the floor. “Hardly mysterious? But my dear Elizabeth, we’ve been sharing the same air for nearly twelve months, and we hardly know each other!”

Riza inclined her head in acknowledgement and gave a serene smile. She and her father had a system in place when apprentices came seeking the still ever growing secrets of flame alchemy - the student had to pass all of Riza’s assessments in personality and demeanor. So far Roy was barely skimming with a passing grade.

“Yes,” she hummed, taking a sip of coffee. “But that’s because all of our conversations up to this point have been your one sided lectures about alchemy.”

Roy choked on a bite of his sauerbraten, quickly covering it up with a few thumps on his chest and a grin. “And for that I do apologize, my dear Elizabeth. I would very much like to try again. My name is Roy Mustang,” he stuck a hand across the table. “I’m from Central and I’m studying to become a great Alchemist who can change the world.”

Riza took his hand slowly, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck begin to rise. _Change the world_ ? she wondered slowly. _Change it how?_ Her smile was paper thin and forced, but she doubted Roy could see the difference as she shook his hand briefly before letting it go.

“My name is Elizabeth Hawkeye, but most of my friends know to call me Riza.” Roy paled but kept a smile on his face. “I’m curious about your goals for changing the world, Roy. What would you use my father’s research for?”

The newly minted section of tattoo burned at the mention of research, as if it were being branded into her skin all over again. Riza didn’t hate her father, but she didn’t like him either. Agreeing to hide the secrets of flame alchemy was the only way that keeping her father’s horrific science out of the hands of men who would turn the world upside down.

Roy thought for a long moment, pushing the last vestiges of his food around on his plate. The air was warm on the veranda of the small restaurant in the village and the sun was just beginning to touch the edges of the horizon. If Roy were anywhere else in that moment, he would have thought he were just a normal man on a normal date with a beautiful woman. _Who’s only 18 but still a woman nonetheless_ , his traitorous mind reminded him.

Despite his penchant for lectures on alchemy while his primary goal had been to impress Riza, discovering she was a fierce and independent and loyal girl had impressed Roy into trying to actually earn her respect, and - perhaps even her friendship. This time, he knew, his desires were genuine.

“I want to make the world a free and safe world,” he finally spoke. “I can only change Amestris, but starting here will one day help me reach my goal of changing the entire world. War profits alchemists, but alchemists can profit peacetime. We have the power to make the world an incredible place.”

The tingles of fear on Riza’s spine changed abruptly to chills - the kind felt when listening to a moving opera or concerto, or reading the happy ending of a novel - and she smiled.

“I would like to see that world,” she replied simply, finishing her dinner with a smile ever present on her face. And with that, the ice was broken - the conversation flowed like snowmelt after a harsh winter. Riza couldn't help but be secretly pleased. She liked Roy well enough, but now that they were sharing an equal conversation, she liked him quite a bit more.

With the conclusion of their meal, Roy escorted Riza up the hill to the dilapidated Hawkeye home, each of them enjoying the silence and cool evening shadows.

As Roy and Riza parted ways on the first floor landing of the Hawkeye home, Riza smiled down at Roy from the first stair, clutching her coat in front of her. “Thank you,” she said quickly, as if the words had escaped of their own volition - like the childhood story her father used to tell her at night, “for dinner and for finally listening.”

Roy smiled. “I’m ashamed to admit that I should have been listening to you a long time ago. You’re a very smart and interesting young woman, Elizabeth.” Riza was grateful the gas lamps hid her encroaching blush. “I hope we can spend time together more often.”

“I would like that...Roy.” She turned and headed up the stairs as Roy watched from below. As she began to disappear from view, she turned quickly. “And please,” Roy’s ears perked, “call me Riza.”

\---

“Guns?”

Riza smirked into her practice rifle that she was cleaning on the kitchen table. Roy was passing through at the end of his alchemy lessons, when he casually glanced at the table and did quite an astonishing double take.

“Yes,” Riza hummed. “Guns.”

“Is this something from school?” He peered over her shoulder with curiosity.

“I’m on the marksmanship team,” she replied with a sneaky smile, glancing over her shoulder at his wide-eyed expression. “They weren’t too happy to have a girl take first place, but my father believed that I should be able to protect myself - with or without alchemy.”

Roy leaned back, pondering the image of sickly Berthold Hawkeye trying to teach a feisty ten-year-old toe-headed blonde the mechanics of a rifle but shook the frankly frightening image from his mind and focused back on the current Riza and her toy.

“So...rifles.”

Riza set her polishing rag and the rifle on the table before turning in her seat to get a better look at Roy who was pondering the waif of a girl with fresh eyes. “Rifles are just as dangerous as alchemy, Roy. Is it such a surprise that a girl would use guns?”

Roy pondered for a long moment, resting a hand on his chin as if stroking an invisible beard. Riza had never even seen him with shadow either. Though he was barely encroaching on twenty, his face was still youthful and his skin was crystal clear. She wondered if he’d be growing the hints of a beard by the time he was thirty.

(Riza mentally berated herself - she shouldn’t be thinking about her father’s apprentices like that ever, let alone this one that flirted like a barfly. It didn’t matter anyway - it wasn’t like she’d be around him to find out.)

“I suppose it’s just that I’m surprised it’s you with the gun, Riza,” Roy finally spoke up, distracting Riza from her rather inappropriate thoughts, jerking her back to the present. “You seem to be against violence and yet you have perfected the use of something so destructive.”

Riza couldn’t help but let the smile fall from her lips. “No, Roy,” she sighed, returning to her cleaning. “I’m against war.” She paused, letting her words sink in. She continued, “Everyone is against war on a fundamental level, but even I know that sometimes you have to protect those you love from something bigger than any of us.”

“And you intend to protect those people with whatever power you possess.”

The finished tattoo seemed to burn under the intense gaze she knew Roy was directing at her back. She could feel the pain of the needles and the burn of the sensation of scraping skin anew, as if he were branding her with the secrets to mass destruction himself. It made her want to retch. She gathered her things quickly.

“I believe it’s important to watch out for your family, comrades, and friends. No matter the cost. If I can protect them from destruction,” she practically mumbled the word, and it fell heavy with double entendre from her lips, “then I will.”

Without another word, she hastily retreated from the kitchen, leaving a confused Roy staring vacantly at the spot she had been occupying, wondering if it had been something he’d said.

\---

Berthold wanted her assessment. Sitting up in his bed, sickly pale and looking like the wax personification of Death she had seen in churches, Riza couldn’t help but fear the man that had once been her father.

“He is seemingly the perfect candidate,” she ground through her teeth. “His aspirations stop on a very selfless level. He is smart, confident, cool and collected under pressure, the perfect alchemist.”

Berthold nodded from his bed. “But?” he prompted, causing Riza’s gut to twist. She wanted to let Roy have the secrets of Flame Alchemy on the surface, but underneath, her fear and distrust was gnawing.

“I think that he may struggle once he has power. He won’t know where to stop. He needs someone to keep him in line, no matter the price - even if it means preventing him from creating chaos by lethal force.” Riza hung her head. “He doesn’t have that. He doesn’t have an off switch. And he doesn’t have someone to pull it for him.”

Berthold nodded his head slowly. “He’s returning from his stay in Central next week. We will resume discussions of his training in Flame Alchemy then. I appreciate your diligence, Riza. He seemed to be very taken with you, once he learned that my assignment to befriend you was genuine.”

Riza felt another twist in her gut - this time from sadness. She knew it had all been an assignment. Roy was only her friend on orders from her father. Most of her childhood friends had been assigned as her friends by influence of her status - back when Berthold and Sofia Hawkeye had been upstanding members of society. Once Sofia had passed, however, Berthold had let their two person family fall to ruin - financially and socially.

“I know,” Riza whispered as she retreated from Berthold’s empty room. “But I wish it could have been different.”

\---

Her father was dead and Roy was a dog of the military.

Riza felt as if her whole world had collapsed in a matter of moments. And perhaps, in a way, it had. The miniscule funeral procession had abandoned the grave hours ago, but Riza still stood, staring blankly at her father’s headstone - next to her mother's. Roy remained at her side against all odds, looking so different in his navy uniform from the young man she had spent evenings playing sixty-six and sneaking Berthold’s hard lemonade with.

All the memories of him now seemed false, as she observed his military stance and haircut. It wasn’t much of a change from the Roy she knew, but it seemed as if they were worlds apart now.

The words they spoke were smoke compared to the conversations they’d shared through dinners and chores and long morning walks to the market. Riza wondered if deep down she’d known this was coming all along - if she would lose Roy to the state and to alchemy.

And of course Ishval was always on her mind. Now, even more so that Roy was now doomed to end up in the endless desert, more than likely spilling his own blood into the hungry sand, never to be seen again.

Would Riza’s life be consigned to misery? She wanted to shout, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, but instead, she closed in on herself, folding like a cheap card table and letting the grief wash away whatever had been left of Elizabeth Sofia Hawkeye.

Staring at the card in her hand, Riza listened to Roy carefully, a plan half forming in her mind.

“Let me guess, you also don't approve of me becoming a soldier.” Riza smartly kept her opinion to herself. She couldn’t say she approved, but she knew what it meant to protect the ones you love - and Roy wanted to protect an entire nation. “Your father told me, ‘Soldiers are left to die like trash on the side of the road’. That may be but I know it's the only way to make a difference and I'll never be happy if I don't try to make this country a better place.”

The words shot through Riza like lightning - a beacon of hope. She was reminded of their conversation on the first day they were truly friends. _“I can only change Amestris, but starting here will one day help me reach my goal of changing the entire world.”_

“Man that must have sounded pretty childish huh.”

Riza smiled, shaking her head. “Not at all. There's nothing childish about caring. I'd like to believe you're serious about this, that you really do care. Can I trust you Roy?”

\---

_“Can I trust you Roy?”_

His automatic response had been, “Of course you can.”

And perhaps one day she would regret those words, but it was too late now, she thought as she began to slowly unbutton her blouse in her father’s study. She could feel his eyes on her figure as the silky white material began to slide with a whisper from her shoulders. The air was tense and sour.

“Riza, I don’t -,” Roy started but Riza cut him off with a wave of her hand. She let the blouse fall to the floor, the soft sigh of it’s descent the only noise. Roy seemed to have stopped breathing. Riza thought it would be terribly embarrassing if he passed out from viewing nothing more than the skin of her back.

“Oh, Riza…” the sigh was so soft, Riza almost thought it had been imagined, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder and the waves of humiliation crashed around her. She knew she shouldn’t have grown attached to the sweet, charming, and dashingly good looking man. She had known it would lead to this moment, where she felt debased and objectified, and felt all the vestiges of their tattered friendship fly through the window.

“You’re beautiful.”

The words shot through Riza like a bullet piercing her heart. She stiffened as she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and her back press against rough and scratchy material. The hug lasted for a few brief moments but Riza was grateful for it, even as Roy pulled away and the chill crept back into her spine.

"Thank you,” she whispered, even as she knew he had commenced reading the inscriptions and couldn’t hear her through his own thoughts. Perhaps, she thought to herself, trusting Roy Mustang had been the best decision after all. And perhaps, even as the vestiges of friendship had fluttered away in the wind, something new and far more durable and strong had been forged in it’s place. Riza didn’t want to put a name to it, even as she felt fingers brush ever so delicately against her skin, but whatever it was - she knew it was there to stay.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a gift for skittledoodles-main on tumblr who helped me plot some great pre-canon Royai. I was originally going to end this with ANGST and PAIN but my babies have too much of that. I have an entirety of ideas with regards to their pre-canon existence so more might be coming soon. This got a little AU there at the end, but hopefully nothing was too out of character.


End file.
